jcmonkey 2024-04-15 14:36
things got wierd once i past the ant, and i couldnt get back into any other level. tried a second time and same thing. not sure what to do.
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD55 → The Colossopteron
By cagibi
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 41 | 4.00 | 20 | |
| Fun | 62 | 3.83 | 20 | |
| Innovation | 125 | 3.52 | 20 | |
| Theme | 322 | 2.66 | 20 | |
| Graphics | 14 | 4.41 | 20 | |
| Audio | 20 | 4.08 | 20 | |
| Humor | 46 | 3.83 | 20 | |
| Mood | 55 | 3.86 | 20 |
things got wierd once i past the ant, and i couldnt get back into any other level. tried a second time and same thing. not sure what to do.
This is super impressive, the platforming reminds me of Earthworm Jim. When fighting the ant, the wait time to obtain the whip was tough if I missed the jump. Love the art though, amazing stuff.
@jcmonkey By "past the ant", are you talking about getting too far behind the ant (you managed to bypass the scrolling wall and you're stuck on the infinite floor)? Or the sequence after you enter its hat (the cutscene breaks somehow)? Or something else?
@abrds Thanks!
i completed the first level, it spit me out into the big room with the bit ant, i walked under the big ant, then there was this wall and what i thought was another level, but i coulndt get in. and i couldnt beat the ant.
@jcmonkey Ah I see!
To beat the ant, you have to climb it, find whips and use them to climb even higher. Some inner parts of the ant have text clues that help you find its weak point and activate it.
How could you leave me with such a cliffhanger?!
Anyway, great game! I loved the concept - I never watched Attack On Titan, but my headcannon is that this is literally it now :) Climbing the ant was challenging, but it was really cool how you use its appendages for platforming. I also liked the graphics and writing, and the music was great! My one nitpick would be that going under the ant is a bit annoying, as its back leg moves pretty slowly, and there is a time in the animation where you can *almost* go through but can't - maybe adding the ability to crawl would help? But again, this is very minor. Otherwise, awesome entry!
@frogman Thanks a lot!
The final scene was supposed to be an a completely easy and anticlimactic fight, but then I decided to cut the scope just a *tiny* bit and just put a cliffhanger.
I think you won't be the last one to comment on the slowness of the ant :p I animated it so that it's approximately walking (… at a glance… from afar… if you don't think about it too much). Adding a climbing action would break the game's difficulty, but crouching/rolling maybe not, I'll think about it!
Very nice game. I got hooked once i got to the ant, but I could not figure out the password.
Great game! I've never looked at an ant up close, but they're terrifying. Loved the music and characters - it all felt really polished. Cute twist at the end. Nice work getting this together in 2 days!
It's a nice little craft with a huge annoying ant :smile: I see where you coming, but to me the most limiting factor was surprisingly bad performance on my toaster.
Anyway this craft has it's own charm and I do like it :thumbsup:
@erlioniel Thanks! Feel free to request a native build for your OS if it's too laggy. I know Godot 4 and the web don't play along sometimes. Actually I might just release binaries for all big 3 platforms if I get one other similar feedback.
The ant fight reminded me of Shadow of the Colossus. Missing double jumps felt little too punishing as you would have to go and get it back.
Art and the story were nice touch.
Agree with @denvil, missing a double jump was a bit punishing, but overall this was a fun little experience.
Awesome game! I love that it's a platformer on moving ant and a puzzle at the same time! You have to be strategic with your double-jump, searching for the clues, and trying to avoid being killed at the same time. Thanks for the checkpoints! The controls feel great, the audio and music are superb, and it's also quite funny! I was afraid I'd be defeated by the giant amoeba with a hat. Thank you for sparing me this humiliation :D Impressive work for a compo!
@denvil @dvdagames @jiri-hysek Thank you all!
I'm thinking about making double jumps less precious/punitive (but not quite entirely free, for difficulty balance).
In a previous prototype before the jam I experimented with throwing the item downwards (i.e. then it would be available under us instead of where it was found). However, on a scrolling ground, that means the item would be lost forever. A possible workaround is to send the lost whips to their birthplace (I'm thinking of a literal garbage collector trailing behind the ant).
It would also enable fun physics, like the thrown whip going down slopes and bouncing down as the player screams NO and wants to get it back quickly.
I also considered making the whip a temporary item (like the starman in Mario games), with unlimited double-jumps (!= unlimited-jumps) for 30s, but the ant's slowness is frustrating enough as it is :D
In the prototype I also experimented with stacking items (i.e. allowing triple jumps), which would actually be okay re difficulty balance.
After spending all that time climbing around under, inside, and under the giant ant, I'm actually kind of disappointed that the "final boss" is just a cliffhanger. (For the record: my game has an *actual* final boss. ;) )
My only *real* gripe is that the dialogue pop-up triggers seem really small - it's easy to run past them before realizing there's something to read, and then I have to double-back to read it. That said, I love the blinking "ANT" on the protagonist's hat - I picture it being this big sign in flashing electric lights.
@ryusui Thanks for the feedback!
Hmm yeah, in my previous games, the dialogue triggers had no speech bubbles (just floating text). Here I made the trigger areas smaller so that the bubbles don't hide where you're going when you have to do platforming tricks. Maybe I just need to grow them back and make the speech bubbles semi-transparent.
Originally I planned a very anticlimactic final boss (the amoeba would have 1 HP), and then our rival would just cry miserably. One tiny scope cutting later, it was turned into a cliffhanger.
And yep, big flashy neon letters are a must-have for any ant tamer worth its salt :p
Nice platformer. Theme aside, it's nice to be able to climb giant beast. Though not really fond on how to disable turrets (I prefer active attacking).
Pretty original game ! ^^ The bossfight felt both slow and dangerous so well done (those arcing bullets are a bit Too arcing tho ><). And the solutio is wery well planned out. Great amount of polish also, love it. Solid entry :ant:
Thank you all for the 20 ratings! Expect a (minor) post-jam version in the coming days.